"Michelle's coming back," Jarrod Barkley announced to his brothers as he read from the telegram.
A huge, almost silly grin broke across Nick's face. "Yes!" he shouted. Nick absolutely loved it when someone who wasn't their mother who was older than Jarrod was around.
"She's bringing Betty with her," the lawyer added casually.
Nick's grin deflated and he let out a slow groan.
Betty was Michelle's cousin from her father's side of the family. A few years older she was as close to Michelle as a sister. She too had grown up with frequent visits to and from the Barkleys.
"What's the matter?" Heath asked. He had heard of Betty Kaufman from Michelle.
"Brother Nick never did take to cousin Betty," Jarrod explained.
Nick let out another audible groan at the sound of her name.
"She's louder than he is," Jarrod continued amused.
"I didn't know that was possible," Heath quipped with equal amusement.
"You know what she has the nerve to call me," Nick demanded of his younger brother. Not waiting for a reply Nick said, "The fastest mouth in the west!..."
"And you're not?" Heath exchanged a conspiratorial smile with Jarrod.
Nick huffed at the lack of understanding by his siblings. "Well, if that's the case then she's the fastest mouth in the east."
"I'm sure it's not that bad," Heath made the mistake of saying.
This time Nick grunted. "I just hope I don't have to kiss her."
"But, Nick," the blonde man pointed out stifling a chuckle. "You kiss everybody."
It was then that Nick decided he was needed elsewhere. He left grumbling at the unfairness of it all.
"I don't understand it," Heath said to Jarrod. "He's crazy about Michelle.
"Well, Michelle isn't loud. She's just bossy."
Heath laid a hand on Jarrod's shoulder. "So you're her only competition then," he joked.
A grin of acceptance spread across Jarrod's face. "I suppose so, brother."
They shared a moment of affectionate silence before Heath spoke again. "What is the problem? Really?"
"Wait and see," Jarrod told him. "Wait and see."
Three days later:
"ANYBODY HOME!" Betty's voice rang loud and clear reaching Nick's spinal column, paining every nerve in his body.
"Aw, No," Nick groused.
Victoria who had started for the door turned. "You knew Betty was coming."
"Yeah," he grumbled. "But I was hoping that Michelle would have changed her mind and dumped her off in Denver or something."
"Nicholas!" Victoria's voice was sharp. "Come and greet your cousin. And let everyone know they're here."
"Like they couldn't hear her yelling," Nick said under his breath.
"What was that?"
"Yes, Mother," Nick said resigned. He started for the door, stopping at the foot of the stairs and shouting up, "They're here!"
Victoria rolled her eyes. And he thinks Betty's loud.
"Yoo Hoo!" Betty tried again since no one had emerged from the house yet.
"Give them a chance to get to the door," Michelle admonished. The female cousins were retrieving their bags from the buggy when the front door flew open and Nick barreled out the door. Pretending Betty wasn't even there he scooped Michelle up and swung her around.
"Nicholas," Victoria attempted her usual admonishment at Nick's boisterous behavior.
Betty simply sighed, totally unfazed.
Nick deposited Michelle back on the ground. Looking toward her traveling companion he said flatly and only because his mother was staring at him, "Betty."
"Nick," she responded equally as bored.
"Audra is in San Francisco visiting friends," Victoria was saying. "She'll be sorry she missed you."
"No she won't," Nick growled.
Again, a shocked, "Nicholas."
"It's alright, Aunt Victoria. I consider the source."
Any further comment was squelched by a sudden squeal of delight from Betty's lips as Jarrod and Heath finally exited the house.
"Jarrod!" Betty pounced on the eldest Barkley brother, squeezing the air out of his lungs, then pulling back just enough to capture his face in her hands and plaster kisses all over his cheeks. She planted one final kiss in the center of his forehead before leaving him to catch his breath. Betty then focused her attention on Heath who was standing quietly, not knowing what to make of anything.
"You must be my new cousin." She took his hand and dropped a light kiss on his cheek. "Welcome to the family."
"Boy Howdy, you sure know how to make a cousin feel welcome," he drawled.
"And nobody told me you were such a heart breaker," Betty added.
Heath blushed at this as Jarrod said, "It runs in the family."
Nick had already snagged Michelle's bag, had an arm around her and was steering her to the house as Betty picked up her own and started for the door. Nick had stopped to tell Michelle something blocking the entrance.
"Nick, I'd like to get through," Betty announced. When he did not move she added, "And sometime today!"
Heath leaned to Jarrod. "I see what you mean. She's more like Nick than he is himself."
Jarrod laughed clapping Heath on the back. He left his hand there as they followed the rest of the family into the house.
That evening after dinner
"So, of course, when I sneaked out to get the supplies I came to find that Heath had bought out all of the ivory material they had in the store..." Victoria had gone to bed and the rest of the family sat in the billiard room listening to Michelle recap for her cousin the events surrounding the brothers' attempt to sew a riding blouse for their mother's birthday.
Betty, never one to hold anything in let loose a guffaw. She had been hysterical since the beginning of the recount. Jarrod and Heath looked on sheepishly. Nick was clearly annoyed.
"When is she going to lay that egg?" Nick grumbled to himself. But it was not unheard by his brothers.
"Now that's something I've missed," Jarrod stated eloquently. "The Nudelman laugh."
Nick huffed. "Sounds like a chicken cackling to me."
Betty stopped. "It does not!"
"Oh, did I ruffle your feathers?"
"Nick!" Betty's voice filled the room. And Jarrod and Heath threw him a look.
Nick glanced innocently from brother to brother. "What? What did I do?"
Betty looked to the ceiling. "Gott in himmel!" That was followed by a streak of Yiddish.
Heath exhaled and spoke. "Well, I'd better get to bed."
Betty's demeanor changed immediately. "Good night, Heath. May a thousand angels rest on your shoulders."
Heath gave a lopsided grin and started for the door.
Nick's voice stopped him. "Aren't you forgetting something," he said evenly.
Heath sighed to himself but returned to Nick's side to place a kiss on his cheek.
"That's better," Nick commented giving Heath a kiss in return.
Heath passed behind where Jarrod and Michelle were sitting side by side, dropping a kiss on top of Michelle's head, then Jarrod's. Jarrod attempted to kiss back but ended up kissing the air. Heath managed to exit the room.
"Oh, that is just soooo sweet," Betty gushed. "I have always loved that!"
"Loved what?" Nick asked irritated.
"The way you are so comfortable kissing each other," Betty answered.
"It's none of your business, anyway," Nick told her. Betty shook her head. "Nick, for crying out loud. I just said I thought it was sweet."
"Yeah, well... I don't have time to sit around here caterwauling with you three all night. This is a working ranch..."
Jarrod turned to Michelle. "Here he goes again." Nick's pontificating about the virtues of their "working ranch" had become a source of amusement.
"Some of us have to keep it running," he continued crossing to the door.
His exit was interrupted by Jarrod's, "Ahem." Hey, if Nick wasn't going to let Heath get away with it then...
"Oh, yeah." Nick moved to Jarrod. Darn Betty, anyway, getting him so riled that in his hasty attempt to flee he forgot something so routine. "What are you looking at?" Nick glared at Betty who seemed to have herself poised to observe the exchange. "Don't watch," he told her like a three-year-old who was shy about such things.
With a wave of her hand Betty said simply, "Good grief."
Jarrod chuckled. "If you want I'll come upstairs later and kiss you."
This time it was Michelle who laughed. "Nick, just kiss the man." Nick would ordinarily kiss any of his family in front of five hundred people without a second thought... unless, of course, one of them was Betty, now that he realized she was taking notice.
"Good heavens!" Betty remarked, turning her head.
Nick leaned over to kiss his brother's cheek. Jarrod's lips touched his face in turn. Nick proceeded to drop a kiss on Michelle's head before making a face in Betty's direction and leaving the room.
"Can I look now?" Betty called after him. She then turned to her female cousin. "Michelle, how about a glass of that great lemonade of yours?"
"You know, that sounds good," Jarrod agreed. "Since we'll probably be up for a while."
Michelle left to fetch the refreshment. When she reentered the room no more than ten minutes later what she heard almost made her drop the tray she was carrying. As it was she stood in stunned silence.
Jarrod for some reason or other had begun recapping for Betty his experience with Libby Matthews, amnesia and the aftermath where in an attempt to bring Jarrod out of his depression over shooting at his brothers Nick threatened to utilize one of their father's tried and true methods for dealing with self pity. This had launched Betty into her dissertation on the evils of physical violence. Betty was on a tangent. Jarrod was unable to get a word in edgewise as his cousin accused the brother he knew loved him more that his own life of not loving him at all.
Michelle, in a very rare occurrence was dumbstruck, standing there numbly holding a tray.
Out of the corner of his eye Jarrod noticed the smaller woman standing there. Taking what he thought was an opportunity to change the subject he approached saying, " Let me help you with that." He removed the tray from her hands and set it on the table. Michelle still did not move.
As Betty was ranting in Yiddish to nobody Michelle finally found her voice. She spoke slowly, carefully, as if it might fail her. "How come I'm just hearing about this now?" she inquired.
"I didn't think it was worth mentioning." Jarrod knew he'd said the wrong thing the minute it left his mouth.
"Not worth mentioning. Not worth mentioning." There was a pause. "It wasn't worth mentioning that you went through a traumatic experience like that. Jarrod, my God, I was a therapist. I could have helped here."
"Nick took care of it." Again, the very wrong thing to say.
"Oh, yeah. It sounds like it." Her tone was purely sarcastic.
"Well, it worked."
"Did it?" Michelle asked skeptically. "Tell me something, Jarrod. Did you really feel better? Or did you convince yourself you did because Nick was grasping at your father's cure all."
By now Betty had stopped her tirade realizing she had an ally, one who always won in a match with Jarrod.
"Okay, maybe, I didn't feel all that better. But I realized it was hurting Nick even more..."
Michelle sighed. It was going to be a long night.
Nick strode into the dining-room the next morning hoping that he was early enough to avoid his louder Kaufman cousin. No such luck. There she was hogging all the space at the buffet.
"Save some for the rest of us," Nick groused as he approached.
Betty turned on him sharply. "You mahmzer!"
"What?"
Betty continued. "How could you threaten to hit Jarrod when he was so vulnerable and hurting."
Nick's temper rose quickly. "What in the name are you talking about?" Then spotting Michelle at the coffee urn turned to her. "What in blazes is big mouth griping about?"
Michelle couldn't resist. "Well, you seem to be upset about Betty."
Nick glared as a chuckle rose from Jarrod's lips and the famous Nudelman laugh made an encore.
That wave passed quickly, however, and Betty looked to Michelle. "I have half a mind to tell him exactly what I'm talking about."
"Half a mind is all you've got." That Nick never did sense impending doom.
Betty slammed her breakfast plate on the table, stepped closer to Nick who backed up into the wall and put a finger up in his face. "I'm talking about when Jarrod was crying his eyes out over shooting at you and Heath. And you threatened to hit him if he didn't snap out of it. I think that is the lowest possible thing that anyone could ever do. I thought you loved your brother."
"I do," Nick protested.
"You see." That was Jarrod.
"If that's how you treat someone you love I shudder to think how you would treat someone you hate."
"Michelle, will you talk to your cousin."
"Don't look at me. I agree with her."
"Look," Nick started, more calmly because now he was speaking to Michelle. "That's what our father did and it always worked."
"Your father was wrong," Betty blurted. "In fact if that's how he handled you when you were feeling bad..."
"Are you going to shudder again." Nick never seemed to run out of vinegar when dealing with Betty.
"You father was a coward who hit his kids because he was too scared to take on someone his own size." Betty's mouth got away from her just as Victoria was entering.
"Now wait a minute," Nick began.
"Why do you think I had to break his nose," Betty finished. There was a collective gasp from everyone but Jarrod who looked at his plate. "You were only three," she told Nick. Aunt Victoria was called away. I found Uncle Tom whipping Jarrod. I threw him off, put a stop to it with one punch."
"A rancher broke his nose," Victoria defended.
Betty turned to her aunt. "He made that up because he didn't want anyone to know that a sixteen year old girl had done it. And I'd do it again," she added.
"Tom Barkley was a wonderful father," Victoria told the niece self righteously. "And nothing you say will make anyone think any different."
Betty squared herself. "Then I guess we'll have to agree to disagree." There was a pause. "I've lost my appetite."
Nick opened his mouth. Michelle looked at him sternly. "Don't say it," she warned.
Betty silently left the room. Victoria left in the other direction. Jarrod rose to follow his mother leaving Michelle and Nick alone.
There was a heavy silence before Nick sighed, "So you think I hate my brother too."
Michelle eyed him sympathetically. Nothing cut to Nick's core like an insinuation that he didn't love his family. "No. I just think you could have handled it differently."
"Okay, Madam Therapist, how?"
"Nick, do you remember when you were having nightmares about Heath being in that iron box at that prison farm?"
"Yeah."
"Do you remember what Jarrod did for you?"
Nick was irritated but only slightly. "He held me and told me to cry... it... out. Damn, I'm a lunkhead."
"No, you're just Nick," Michelle soothed. "You reacted. You wanted to wave a magic wand and make Jarrod better. I know it's because you love him. And so does he."
Betty entered the barn. Nothing was going well on the visit. Why didn't she just stay in New York. Jarrod was frustrated with her. Her aunt probably hated her now. And for what? Nick wasn't ever going to realize he was wrong. Taking a deep breath something caught her attention. She looked down to see a little gray kitten with white paws rubbing up against her leg. She scooped him up and rubbed his soft fur. He purred loudly. She carried him from the barn and sat in a chair just outside the billiard room. The kitten curled up in her lap and they both went to sleep.
A short time later Michelle found Jarrod at his desk in that very room. "How's Aunt Victoria?"
"If you mean is she going to have Betty drawn and quartered... no. But, she's not used to family speaking ill of Father."
"This is true."
"For the record her last words on the subject were something about Betty being Betty."
Michelle smiled. "Well, that means that she's letting Betty's previous standing with the family take precedent."
Jarrod nodded. "And then there's all those things that Nick says about Betty's parents to consider. I don't think Mother is up for an all out family feud."
"I'll consider that matter closed, then." She shared a kiss with her cousin before leaving him to work.
An hour later Betty awoke in the chair and began to stroke the still sleeping ball of fluff in her lap.
Nick wandered into the room where Jarrod was working. He strolled around the billiard table toying with the cue ball as he paced.
Jarrod looked up from the paperwork. "Something on your mind, brother Nick?"
Nick startled a bit. He hadn't quite worked up all his courage. But when he glanced up Jarrod had come to his side.
Nick looked back down. "Isn't that just like you showing concern for me."
"Well, you are my brother."
Nick looked Jarrod in the eye. "And I wasn't much of one to you."
"Huh?"
Nick rolled the billiard ball across the table. "Look. Not that I would ever admit this to Betty." He hesitated. "I may not have exactly handled that situation the best. I wanted a quick fix. I'm sorry. You deserve better than a lunkhead like me for a brother."
"Now you listen here, Nick Barkley." Jarrod's tone was firm. "I couldn't ask for a better brother [a beat] even if he is a lunkhead." Jarrod smiled at him causing a grin to spread slowly across Nick's face.
"I love you, Jarrod."
Jarrod held out his arms. "Come here, lunkhead."
Nick stepped into the hug and completed it.
They were still hugging a few minutes later when Heath walked in. "Boy Howdy, they're at it again," he joked to nobody.
Jarrod and Nick separated but maintained physical contact as Heath strode to them. His tone, too, turned solemn as he mentioned having overheard the "discussion" that occurred over breakfast. "I never really did feel right about it but I kept quiet because I figured it was something between you two and your father..."
Jarrod reached out and took Heath's arm. "No more apologizing." A silent understanding passed between them. "Now, if I don't finish this brief... And this is a working ranch.." That was directed at Nick. Heath stifled a laugh.
"Yeah, Yeah. Use my own words on me."
"That's what we lawyers do." Jarrod gave each brother a kiss on the cheek before shooing them from the room.
"Just don't tell Betty," Nick was saying as he and Heath left.
That evening Michelle and Betty were getting ready for dinner. "I just have to know. What did you say to Nick?" Betty asked.
"Nothing really. I just let him figure it out for himself."
A shuffling was heard outside the door. Michelle kept speaking but Betty went to the door and flung it open. Nick was in the hallway. Betty grabbed his face and planted a big smacker of a kiss on his nose. His groan could be heard for miles and miles.
THE END